1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and more particularly to a mobile terminal such as a cellular phone which can easily search the addressee with whom a user desires to communicate, by a redial function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a cellular phone as a mobile terminal has been getting sophisticated to includes not only the communication function realized by simply calling but also the address-book function, mail function via the network such as the base station and the internet, the browsing function which allows the user to browse Web pages, the music control function which allows the user to listen to audio data, and the function for receiving the digital terrestrial one-segment broadcasting wave.
A redial function is well known as the basic function of the cellular phone. Generally, the addressee information stored in a redial memory is displayed on the screen of the cellular phone so as to easily search the addressee with whom a user desires to communicate, by a redial function.
The art which relates to the redial function is disclosed in Patent Document of International Publication No. WO99/22505. In the technology proposed in the Patent Document, the information of the addressee communicated with the user through the call is stored in the memory region such that the information of the addressee communicated with higher frequency among those listed in the record is set to be inerasable. The addressee information stored in the memory region is displayed for outgoing call. The thus designated or selected addressee is never erased from the redial memory even if the user calls the other addressees frequently thereafter. This makes it possible to improve the usability for the user.
Recently, the cellular phone with the large screen capable of providing high-definition display has been proposed. The high intensity device has been in widespread use as the display such as an organic EL besides a TFT liquid crystal display of mainstream type. The screen size of the display which has been increased is restricted. The number of addressees according to the addressee information which can be displayed on the screen at a time is limited as well. Display of a large number of addressees requires the user to search the desired addressee by scrolling the screen.
The size of the character displayed on the screen may be reduced for the purpose of displaying more addressees on the screen. However, the addressee information having the character size reduced is likely to be illegible for aged users. Increase in the screen size of the display may enlarge the casing of the cellular phone as well. Thus, the increase in the screen size of the display is limited.